Water color picture



1958 -w. H. ARTHUR.

WATER COLOR PICTURE Filed Feb. 21, 1955 INVENTOR. WILLIAM H. ARTHUR BYDES JARDlNS, ROBINSON & KEISER HIS ATTORNEYS United States Patent()fiice Patented Oct. 28, 1958 WATER COLOR PICTURE William HamiltonArthur, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor, by

mesue assignments, to Western Printing and Lithographing Company,Racine, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application February 21, 1955,Serial No. 489,357

Claims. (CI. 41-26) This invention relates to a new type of water colorpicture and to a novel method devised for making the same.

Heretofore there has been no way known, as far as I am aware, of makingthe so-called paintless pictures for childrens paint books in a largevariety of gay and vivid colors so as to render them attractive andappealing to the children who use them. I know of no case in which anyof these paintless pictures have been available in more than one colorper picture. Also, the colors resulting from the application of water tothe pictures in the known form of paintless coloring books are pale andlifeless and, for this reason, this type of product has not beensuccessful. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention toprovide an improved type of water color picture which may be colored ina number of bright, lustrous hues by brushing over the differentcomponent areas of the picture with a brush wet with water. To providesuch a picture, I first coat the sheet of paper on which the picture isto be made with a layer of water-insoluble material which serves as abarrier layer between the coloring material and the paper and preventsthe water-soluble coloring material thereafter applied to the surfacefrom striking into fibers of the paper. This is undesirable since thelocalized spots of color applied to the surface in preparing the picturefor use will remain as such after the picture is brushed with water ifthe color is permitted to strike into the paper. This layer of insolublematerial is also preferably formed of a hygroscopic material so as totake up the water applied to the picture and thereby prevent theformation of puddles or beads of water on the surface of the picture.

On the surface thus provided, I then apply the various colors of thecoloring material which is so composed and arranged as to produce theparticular pictorial representation desired. The coloring material usedfor this purpose may be of any desired type so long as it has thecapability of being readily soluble in water after having been permittedto dry on the picture. The different colors of the coloring material aredistributed over the surface of the sheet in the form of discretefigures so as to permit the amount of any particular color impressed ona given area of the picture to be accurately controlled. In this way,several colors may be applied in predetermined amounts to a given areaso that when water is applied thereto and the colors mixed together bybrushing, a color of the desired hue will be produced. By thus combininga limited number of basic colors, a large variety of different hues andshades of color may be obtained on the various component areas of thepicture.

The coloring materials may be applied to the base sheet by any of theknown printing methods such as intaglio, rotogravure, engraving, or bythe silk screen printing process. I prefer to use the latter methodsince it is less costly and more flexible than the others. In

order to use the silk screen method, a stencil is first prepared foreach of the basic colors to be used in printing the picture. Thesestencils are preferably made by the photo method from an originaldrawing prepared for each of the colors to be applied to the picture. Inthe case of the stencil for the outline representation of the subjectmatter of the picture, however, it may be found more expedient to make afilm stencil for this portion of the picture since the solid linesforming the outline of the pictorial representation may be fairly simplein character. In connection with the preparation of the photo stencils,Ben Day tints may be used in making up the original drawings so as tofacilitate the point-bypoint distribution of the various basic colors inthe different areas of the picture. In composing the various portions ofthe picture to which one or more of the basic colors is to be applied, acareful selection of the proper Ben Day pattern will be necessary inorder to obtain the proper distribution of color for the particular areaof the picture under consideration. Some trial and error Will beinvolved in this respect until sufficient experience is acquired by theartist to enable him to accurately judge the character and quantity ofthe colors required to provide the desired hues in the various sectionsof the picture. No concern need be given, however, with regard to theregistration of the various colors in a given area since overlapping ofthe colors will have no effect on the ultimate picture produced by theapplication of water thereto to mix the colors together.

The coating which is applied to the paper in preparing it for use, asheretofore mentioned, will prevent the coloring material printed on thesurface of the sheet by use of the stencils from wicking in, that is,from penetrating into the fibers of the paper so as to prevent theiruniform dispersal over the surface of the sheet when water is thereafterapplied thereto. In other words, if it were not for the barrier layer ofwater-insoluble material applied as a coating to the paper sheet, itwould be impossible to brush out the spots or dots of color impressed onthe surface of the sheet during the printing operation. This wouldbedetrimental insofar as the final picture is concerned since it wouldresult in a mottled effect which would spoil its appearance.

By using a material for the barrier layer which is hygroscopic incharacter, the water applied thereto with a brush will not stand inheads or puddles on the surface of the sheet but will be taken up by theabsorbent coating and thereby aid in wetting, dissolving andmixing thewater-soluble coloring material.

The solid lines forming the outline representation of the subject matterof the picture are preferably printed with a coloring material which isinsoluble in water. Thereby, these lines will provide barriers betweenthe different colored areas of the picture and prevent ragged andunsightly margins at the confluence of the different colors.

Accordingly, it is a further object of my invention to provide a pictureformed of water-soluble coloring material which is impressed on afibrous sheet coated with a water-insoluble material which is preferablyhygroscopic in character so as to present an absorbent surface to theapparent from the following description, the invention inv cludescertain novel methods and features of construction the essentialelements of which are set forth in the appended claims and a preferredform or embodiment of 3 which will hereinafter be described withreference to the drawings which accompany and form a part of thisspecification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 isa viewshowing my water color picture as it appears before wateris brushed thereon for mixing the colors together.

Fig. 2 is a view of the same picture showing its appearance after waterhas been brushed on the various component areas thereof.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing 1T1: lays: formation of thepicture.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are enlarged-views of portions of the picture shownin-Fig. 1.-

As mentioned earlier in the general description of my invention, -thewater color picture forming the subject matter of the presentapplication is impressed on a base sheet 10 (Fig. 3) formed of paper orsimilar fibrous material which is provided with a layer 11 ofwater-insoluble material which serves as a barrier between thewatersoluble coloring material 12 and the fibrous base sheet 10. Thelayer 11 may be composed of any suitable coating material for paperwhich is insoluble in water such as china clay, etc., though it ispreferable, as explained earlier herein, to use a materialwhich is alsohygroscopic in character, for example starch or calcium carbonate. Onthe base sheet thus coated with the barrier layer 11, the water-solublecoloring material 12 is thereafter applied preferably by the silk screenprinting process.

In the illustration shown in Fig. 1, a portion of which is shown greatlyenlarged in Figs. 3 and 4, I have made use of three different colors ofwater-soluble coloring material,-namely, red 13, blue 14 and yellow 15.A fourth color, i. e., black, is used for forming the solid lines 16 ofthe picture which provide the outline for the subject matter of thepicture. The lines 16 are preferably formed of a water-insolublematerial so as to provide permanent boundary lines which will assist theuser in coloring the different areas of the picture and provide aseparation be tween the colors of the difierent areas so as to result ina neat appearing product when the picture is completed.

As heretofore mentioned, various hues and shades of color may beobtained by the proper selection of the three basic colors employed forproducing the different colored areas of the picture. For example, thearea 18 of the picture comprising the sky may be given a light blue hueby applying a light distribution of small, blue figures 19 (Fig. 1) tothis portion of the picture. This distribution of the blue coloringmaterial may be obtained by using the proper Ben Day tint on thisportion of the original drawing for the blue stencil.

In other places, such as on the boys shoe 22, the colors red, yellow andblue may be combined to produce an orchid hue when the color depositsare mixed together by the application of water thereto. A portion of theshoe- 22 is shown greatly enlarged in Fig. 4 to illustrate one possiblearrangement of the color deposits in this area of the picture. It willbe noted that the arrangement and frequency of distribution of the colordeposits is such that the area covered by the red figures 13 and yellowfigures greatly exceeds that covered by the blue figures 14 so that theresultant color which is produced by mixing the three colors togetherwill be of the desired hue. Obviously, patterns other than that shown inFig. 4 might be used to produce the same final color so long as therelative proportions of the colors remain the same.

In other portions of the picture the blues may be combined with yellowsto provide a green of the desired shade as shown in the leaves 20 and 21in the upper left-hand corner of the picture (Fig. 1). For example, inthe case of the leaf 20, a portion of which is shown greatly enlarged inFig. 5, the 'small figures comprising the blue pattern greatly exceed insize and in the frequency of their dis tribution the small figures 31comprising the yellow pattern so as to provide a dark, greenish bluecolor. The leaf 21, on the other hand, is comprised of a widelydispersed pattern of blue figures 32 (Fig. 6) and a closely spacedpattern of yellow figures 33 so as to produce a light, yellowish greencolor when this portion of the picture is gone over with a wet brush. Ina similar manner, red and blue figures may be printed-together in thearea of the trouser leg 34 to provide'a purple color thereon when thisarea of thepicture is brushed with Water. :The leg may either be violetor purple depending on the proportion of red to blue applied theretowith the depth of the shade depending on the amount of color applied tothis area. Likewise, the stripes of the tiger 23 are formed of acombination of yellow and red figures which when ad mixed with oneanother by the application of water will provide an orange shade, theparticular hue of which depends upon the proportion of the yellowcoloring material to the red coloring material.

It is here to be noted that the interspersing ofthe diflierentcoloredfigures on the picture before Water is applied thereto (Fig. 1)is not such as to visually indicate the colors which will result whenwater is applied to the area. This is due to the fact that the figurepatterns applied to the picture are not sufiiciently minute to blendtogether and produce the resulting color. as in the case of ordinarycolored half tones. Hence, the picture retains the element of surprisefor the child when he or she applies a wet brush to any given area tofind out what color will result.

The water-soluble coloring materials are applied to the picture one at atime, each color being employed with its related stencil, there beingfour stencils required for the process used in producing the type ofpicture illustrated in Fig. 1. That is, there will be a stencil for theblack lines forming the outline of the pictorial representation, oneforthe blue coloring material, one for the red coloring material, and onefor the yellow coloring material. The coloringmaterial may be in theform of a paint, dye, or other Water-soluble coloring substance suitablefor use with the particular process ofprinting utilized in making thepictures. It is important, of course, that the material remainwater-soluble after it has dried and for an indefinite periodthereafter.

When a wet brush is applied to the surface of the picture, the waterapplied by the brush will not tend to run or puddle on the surface ofthe sheet due to the hygroscopic character of the barrier layer ofmaterial applied to the top surface of the base sheet. This materialWill take up a portion of the moisture applied tothe surface and tend towet the coloring material from beneath and assist in its rapid andcomplete dispersal over the surface of the sheet as the brush is strokedthereacross. The even distribution of the color over the surface of thesheet is thereby facilitated, and the complete mixing of the severalcolors which may be applied to a given area in the form of a pattern ofsmall, discrete figures or dots of the different colors is also moreeasily accomplished by virtue of sub-surface moisture which tends tofloat the coloring materials on the surface of the sheet.

In coloring the picture, each area involving a particular color orcombination of colors is worked on separately and the brush should berinsed in water after each area is completed and before commencing tobrush a different area. This will preserve the purity of the colors andthereby insure that the completed picture will be neat and attractive inappearance. The solid lines 16 forming the outline representation of thesubject matter of the picture being insoluble will provide a barrierbetween adjacent colored areas and aid the amateur artist in avoidingintermingling of the different colors of adjoining areas of the picture.

While I have described my invention in connection with one particularform or embodiment of the invention and have used, therefore, certainspecific terms and language herein, it is to be understood that thepresent disclosure is illustrative rather than restrictive and thatchanges and modifications may be resorted to without departing from thespirit or scope of the claims which follow.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a water color picture comprising afibrous base, a layer of water-insoluble surfacing material covering onone side of said base, and a water-soluble coloring material impressedon said layer in the form of a multiplicity of small, discrete dots ofdifierent colors in predetermined amounts adapted to be combined whenbrushed with water to produce a color of the desired hue, said surfacingmaterial being of such a character as to present an impenetrable surfaceto said coloring material.

2. The water color picture of claim 1 wherein said water-solublecoloring material is applied to said layer in the form of a multiplicityof small, discrete figures of reoccurring shapes.

3. The water color picture of claim 1 wherein dots of a limited numberof colors are applied in different combinations andco-ncentrations togive to a given area of the picture a color of the desired hue.

4. The water color picture of claim 3 wherein the dots of one color areapplied to a given area of said layer without regard to their registrywith the dots of another color applied to the same area.

5. As an article of manufacture, a multi-color picture for amusement oreducational purposes comprising a base sheet, a water-insolublesurfacing layer on said sheet, and means for providing each of thecomponent areas of the picture formed on the surfacing layer of saidsheet with a color of the desired hue, including a multiplicity ofsmall, discrete figures of water-soluble coloring material impressed onsaid base sheet in different colors of predetermined amounts, thefigures of the different colored materials being combined in the correctproportion to produce a color of the desired hue when the coloringmaterials are admixed by the application of water thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,038,516 McIntosh Apr. 21, 1936 2,601,161 McIntosh June 17, 19522,629,956 SWitZer Mar. 3, 1953 OTHER REFERENCES The Technique of WaterColoring, Richmond, Little- Johns, plate XII, and pages 38, 40.

Ellis: Printing Inks, Rheinhold Publ. Co., N. Y. C., January 1940, pp.403-406.

Invisible Color Paint Books, published by Platt and Munk Co., 1952, anddistributed by Brogle and Co., Inc., N. Y. C.

